SYCAMORE – The thing that Ron Milner said shocked him the most was that it was done in broad daylight.
On Wednesday, the Sycamore resident said he returned home to the 2400 block of Dustin Drive about
3 p.m. after running an errand to the western suburbs and saw that someone had covered his Trump 2020 “Keep America Great” banner in red spray paint.
“It portends to be a very difficult election,” he said.
Milner, 61, said he had put the banner up on his garage earlier in the day. He was gone for a couple of hours on his errand, and said his teenage daughter who was home at the time did not hear anything. But his family was shaken up and even asked that he not put the banner back up.
According to a Sycamore Police report, the paint went through the banner and stained his door red. The message written on the banner “Vote Bernie,” according to the police report.
“I almost thought it was a hate crime,” Milner said.
There were no surveillance cameras at Milner’s residence or any of his neighbor’s that captured the act, according to the report. Neighbors told police they did not see anything.
He’s not sure who did it, but he thought it would have to be someone young and close by to have ready access to the paint.
Milner said he’s lived in Sycamore since 2008.
“I’m a political person.
I like politics,” he said.
In the past he’d put up signs in support of John McCain and Mitt Romney and he said there were no problems with those signs. He did not put up a sign during the 2016 election.
Milner said he’s worried about the divide politics is causing.
“Politics has ratcheted up to such a degree it’s turned into something where you hate your neighbors,” he said. “It’s no reason to destroy private property.”
Milner said he won’t take the banner down. In fact, he said he’s looking to get at least one more and possibly a sign to post somewhere. He is concerned, however, if there will be more backlash.
He said he’ll also get some sort of surveillance cameras when he does.
Milner said he’s sure that who ever spray painted his banner doesn’t know him. If someone has different political views than him, he said, they could have knocked on his door and talked to him.
“We’re all just Americans,” he said.
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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